Roundup: A “dull as hell” House

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Jean Chrétien gave an interview yesterday to mark the 30th anniversary of his election win to form government in 1993, and there’s one part in it that sticks out for me in particular, which was about his time in politics, pre-dating his becoming prime minister, which has to do with the use of television in the Chamber:

“When I became a member of Parliament, there was no TV… In the House of Commons, we had no television. In those days in the House of Commons, we didn’t have the right to read anything. We had to get up and speak. It was fun. Today, they all come with speeches prepared by kids in the office and it is dull as hell, rather than have a real debate like we had in those days.”

This is spot on. It wasn’t just the arrival of the cameras that changed things, it was the relaxation of the rules around prepared speeches. It used to be that you weren’t allowed them, with very limited exceptions—the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne, the budget, and if you needed some particular help with specific facts or figures or translation (because simultaneous interpretation was a later arrival into Parliament). When they relaxed the rule around prepared speeches, it meant MPs started reading speeches into the record; time limits started to mean that they didn’t just speak up to that twenty-minute mark, but they were expected to fill the time entirely, which again, makes for very bad prepared speeches. There’s no actual debate either—during “debate” on a bill, the period for “questions and comments” is usually reserved for recitations of established talking points, with no actual exchange. One question, one response is not actually debate. Without relying on prepared speeches, and actually being allowed to debate, it would have made for actual tension or frisson between them, and to force them to know their material.

The other thing with the arrival of television is how it changed the nature of Question Period. It became very much about trying to a) get on TV, and b) providing clips for the evening news, which is one reason why parties started to do things like asking the same question in English and in French, so that they could get clips for both news services. With the advent of social media, however, the incentives changed again, and it was about creating content for those social feeds, which could include bad behaviour to drive up engagement. This is where we’re at now. It’s not exciting, and like Chrétien says, it’s “dull has hell” because you’re just watching badly scripted performances meant entirely for the consumption of clips. Politics should not be about this.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A civilian was killed in the Kherson region early Wednesday after Russians bombed the area. Russians are ignoring their losses and pressing on at Avdiivka, Debris from downed Russian drones downed power lines near a nuclear plan in the western part of the country, knocking out power for hundreds of people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Ukraine will strike back if Russia attacks their power grid again this weekend. Here is a look at some Ukrainian sappers who have returned to the job of de-mining after they lost limbs doing the work.

Good reads:

  • Chrystia Freeland has agreed to hold a meeting with provincial finance ministers about Alberta’s threat to pull out of the CPP (which they are now wavering on).
  • Bill Blair can’t say how “humanitarian pauses” might work in Gaza, while Karina Gould says the pauses don’t affect hostage negotiations.
  • Mélanie Joly announced aid for Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, but stopped short of sanctioning Azerbaijan for their attack on the region.
  • Jonathan Wilkinson says the country needs to move faster to renewables as the International Energy Agency predicts fossil fuel use will peak in 2030.
  • The new surveillance planes the military plans to purchase are facing a parts shortage that is leading to reliability issues.
  • The Bank of Canada maintained their overnight rate at 5%. (The full Monetary Policy Report has more about the read on the direction of the economy).
  • The Patented Medicines Review Board is going to restart consultations on drug price reforms in the country.
  • Correctional officials moved to block an attempt by Paul Bernardo to make a public statement (through his lawyer) about his move to medium-security.
  • Bell Media wants the government to guarantee them access to American programming like they’ve always had, rather than being forced to make their own.
  • India’s High Commission and consulates will start processing certain kinds of visas after halting them altogether in their dispute over an alleged extrajudicial killing.
  • Senator Ian Shugart, a former Clerk of the Privy Council, passed away from cancer. It had been expected he was to be the next Government Leader in the Senate.
  • Pierre Poilievre went to bat for a private member’s bill to ban COVID vaccine mandates; that bill was defeated at second reading.
  • Feeling the heat from the blowback over her stupid pension plans, Danielle Smith now says she won’t hold a referendum until she gets a “firm exit number.”
  • Patricia Treble makes note of the King’s recent speech in London as a force for unity amidst troubled and fractious times.
  • Susan Delacourt observes the tightrope that Trudeau is walking on the Israel-Gaza file, and notes the biggest cleavages  being exploited are with the US.
  • Kevin Carmichael parses the Bank of Canada’s rate decision, and the strong words that Tiff Macklem had, particularly about those making political hay over it.

Odds and ends:

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